Eglish speakers help me to figure out! - independant from or independant of? (May/08/2007 )

me and my prof have this dispute, we are both non native English speakers. id say this mechanism happens independent from that mechanism and he insists it should be independent of that mechanism. what do you think?

I think both are correct and interchangable, but "independent of" is more common.

ご注意 - Not a native english speaker

I would go for 'independent of' in your case.

'Independent from' is used in cases like 'one country becomes independent from another country' in which the first country used to be under influence of the later country but now has become free. So, this means free from possession of or something like that.

'Independent of' will mean 'something does not influence the subject we are talking about'. Like, my opinion is independent of any kinds of discrimination.

So, it is better to use 'independent of the mechanism'.

my english is very bad but i will vote for ur prof

It's of, but something is different from something else

Hi!
Not a native speaker as well...
But after checking my dictionary to be sure I found that "independent of " must be the correct one. Found no "independent from"...
If not please say so, so that I can complain to the dictionary

We can use 'independent from' in issues like 'one country has become independent from another country' . . not good in history so I cannot tell which coutry became independent from which country.

Well, I'm not a grammar buff, but my mother tongue is English and I've got to say "independent from" sounds odd to me. Not terminally incorrect, but still just slightly weird. I think your prof's got you there.

Edited to add: Hee, ahmad193! I love Ralph. That made me giggle.

I am not from an English speaking country. But my vote for 'independent of'. When being independent, it will be of "something" instead of "from" something. If "independent from", it simply means "release from". my 2 cents worth on English grammar .